1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable oscilloscope casing structure and to a digital color oscilloscope which is improved in operational performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in addition to a typically-shaped portable oscilloscope, a further downsized oscilloscope is available such that it is actuated by a battery and employs a plane-type display, such as a liquid crystal display.
FIGS. 15 and 16 show one example of a portable digital oscilloscope using such a plane-type display. FIG. 15 is a plan view of such an oscilloscope. FIG. 16 is a side view of the oscilloscope in its standing position. As is seen from FIGS. 15 and 16, the conventional digital oscilloscope is characterized in than an operating surface 17 and a display surface 15 are integrally formed with each other on the same plane. A viewing angle adjustment mechanism for observing the display surface 15 is constructed in such a way that a stand 16 arranged at the rear of the main unit is used to raise and support a bottom 14 of the main unit. The adjustment range of the stand 16 is from one to two steps.
Accordingly, the stand 16 is used to tilt the operating surface 15. In order to make the surface of the oscilloscope casing as even as possible for achieving easy carrying, press button switches and volumes are largely used for the operating system.
However, the conventional oscilloscope described above presents the following first problem. It has a narrow adjustment range for obtaining an optimal angle to observe the display surface. The operator has to take the trouble to move his/her own viewpoint in order to obtain an optimal viewing angle. Besides, while the oscilloscope is tilted, the main unit is unstable so that it is likely to be moved by the depression of a button. The press buttons are largely used so that it is particularly difficult to make fine adjustments with fingers for adjusting the position of a waveform, or the like. The use of turning knobs might solve such a problem, but at the same time, it would produce protrusions on the operating surface, which might be inconvenient in the way of carrying the oscilloscope.
In terms of operational performance, there has been suggested the following techniques of differentiating the channels in the conventional multi-channel input digital color oscilloscope: colors of the display waveforms are determined corresponding to the channels; the probe tips and the connecting portions between the probes and the oscilloscope are marked in various colors; and the input channels are displayed on the display screen by way of letters, or the like.
Although these techniques have respective advantages, the operator is required to use the oscilloscope, in consideration of the corresponding relationships between the waveform input probes and the input panels and those between the panels and the waveform display colors, thereby easily leading to erroneous operations and measurements.
Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 4-43270 discloses a color oscilloscope of the type which displays in color signal waveforms of a plurality of channels which are input through a plurality of probes, and further describes the following technique. Each of the probes connected to such a color oscilloscope has color-designated information generating means for sending information which is related to a display color allocated to each of the probes. The resultant color-designated information is read by the oscilloscope, thereby determining the display color of the signal waveform.
According to the above-noted technique, the operator can perform the measurements while corresponding the probe color to the display color on the oscilloscope screen, thereby preventing erroneous operations and measurements.
However, according to the above-noted conventional are, although the operator can prevent erroneous operations and measurements when manipulating the above type of oscilloscope, it is necessary that the probes are provided with the color-designated information generating means for sending information related to the display color and that the main unit of the oscilloscope is provided with color information reading means, such as a color sensor, a memory, a CPU, and the like.
Also, the conventional art presents the following second problem. Even though the display color is changed corresponding to the probe as described above, the operator might not be able to see the probe which is visually hidden, in which case, the operator has to visually confirm the corresponding relationship between the part to be measured and the display color. Besides, there might be the possibility of changing the corresponding relationship between the channel and the display color every time a measurement is performed, thereby easily bringing about erroneous operations and measurements.